


Tumbling Into Love

by motherbearof3



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Accident, Broken Bones, Captain Benson - Freeform, Declarations Of Love, Dodds is a movie buff, Established Relationship, F/M, Trampolines, children's birthday party, doddson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22179208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherbearof3/pseuds/motherbearof3
Summary: Lucy falls ill when Olivia has to attend a conference so Dodds steps in as babysitter for Noah.
Relationships: Olivia Benson/William Dodds
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Tumbling Into Love

**Author's Note:**

> Like I've said before, I'll go down with the Barson ship, but Doddson is growing on me, and I certainly have a good time writing it. 
> 
> This came from seeing Peter Gallagher at a trampoline park in "Bad Moms Christmas" last month and the plot bounced around in my head (pun intended) for a while before it all came together. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> All the characters (except the ones who wear joggers) aren't mine but Dick Wolf and NBC's.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Dodds asked, looking at Olivia over the tops of his reading glasses.

“I suppose.”

She chewed on her lip as she reviewed the presentation slides on her laptop. Bill put down the sports section and got up, moving to stand behind her, his hands gently massaging her shoulders.

“Don’t tell me Captain Benson is nervous,” he teased.

Olivia shook her head and pulled off her own glasses. 

“Not exactly,” she said.

The new Captain of SVU was headed to Albany the next day to speak at a women’s leadership conference. It was the first time she’d been invited to a conference since being promoted. She was still feeling her way in the new position; especially when it had come at the expense of the man standing behind her. He had sacrificed his position as Deputy Chief of SVU so she could get the new title. He was still a Deputy Chief; 1PP hadn’t taken that away from him, but had banished him to a post on Staten Island overseeing traffic cops. As far as she was concerned, they might as well have forced him to retire. But unlike the previous coworker Olivia had been in a relationship with, Bill Dodds wasn’t ready for retirement, even though he was older than Tucker.

“They’ll love you,” he assured her, kissing the top of her head. “Let’s go to bed. You need to get an early start and it’s going to be a long day.”

The relationship between the Deputy Chief and Captain had been disclosed but was not one they widely publicized. Nonetheless, word had quietly gotten around that they were seeing each other. Olivia had heard the rumors that she used him to get the Captain’s badge; the comments about their age difference, even though Dodds was not much more than ten years her senior. She never mentioned them to Bill, nor he to her, so she wasn’t sure how he felt about it. They split their time between apartments, and tonight, since she was going to the conference in the morning, were at hers and Noah’s. Dodds would stay until Lucy came to watch the boy since he was still on Christmas break. Olivia looked up at him over her shoulder with a small, seductive smile.

“Are you sure you just want to go to sleep?” 

They had been asleep for several hours when she was awakened by her cell phone. Olivia’s brain immediately went into emergency work mode because Fin was commanding officer while she attended the conference and only something urgent would have her phone ringing. Sitting up in bed, she answered the call.

“Benson.”

Bill also woke at the sound of the phone and sat up, scrubbing a hand over his face and looked at her quizzically.

“Oh no,” Olivia was saying. “No, no. It’s fine, I understand. I’ll figure something out. Feel better.”

She ended the call and put the phone back on its charging stand, then flopped back down into bed, covering her face with her hands.

“What’s wrong?” the man beside her asked, lying back down on his side facing her. “Who’s sick? Sergeant Tutuola?”

“No. Lucy,” she told him. “She’s been up half the night with a stomach bug. She said she hated to call at this hour, but didn’t want to wait until morning when we would be expecting her.”

Olivia rolled to face him.

“I guess I can see if Amanda’s sitter can watch Noah. Or cancel my appearance.”

“You’ll do no such thing. I’ll stay with him,” Bill told her.

In the dim light of the bedroom, she looked uncertain.The only relationship Olivia had been in since adopting Noah had been with Tucker, and she had never expected him to watch her son in her absence. Of course, Tucker had never offered. In fact, he hadn’t interacted with the boy, who had been a toddler at the time, much at all. 

“He was invited to a classmate’s birthday party,” she said.

“Olivia, sweetheart, sometimes it offends me that you forget I have parented before,” he replied with a smile, reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, and then ran his palm over her shoulder and down her arm.

“It’s not that, Bill,” she argued. “It’s just that I don’t expect you to --”

He leaned over and cut her off with a kiss.

“I know you don’t. I’m offering. You will go to the conference, I will stay with Noah and take him to the birthday party. End of discussion.”

“Okay.” She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure. Now, how about a little pleasure for you?” 

Bill kissed her again and moved his hand from her arm to her hip and around to the curve of her ass. She gave herself up to his hands and mouth, thinking once again that he was right when he said she’d been with a boy and an old man before him.

He got up and made Olivia coffee and saw her out the door at 4 a.m. for her drive to Albany. Then he took care of what little work had accumulated in his email inbox over the holiday. They were in those odd days between Christmas and New Years where every day seemed the same and he could only imagine whoever booked the leadership conference hadn’t been paying attention to the calendar because it was strange to have something scheduled right at the end of the year. Noah knew his mother had a work trip that day and was expecting to see Lucy when he woke. So he was surprised to see Dodds sitting on the couch reading the newspaper with a morning sports show playing on the television.

“Morning, Noah,” Bill said.

“Where’s Lucy?”

“She’s sick. So it’s you and me today.”

“Oh. Okay.” 

The boy liked Chief Dodds. He didn’t mind when Noah was loud or rowdy and would sometimes roll his eyes and wink at him behind his mother’s back when she told him to settle down. He had taught him how to ice skate and play hockey and helped him with his batting and catching. He knew his mom and the man were dating; he’d seen them kiss and sometimes they spent the night at the man’s apartment, which had a fireplace and a park right across the street. Noah wondered if they would get married someday even though Dodds had been married once already. He’d seen the pictures in his apartment of a younger version with a woman and two boys who were about Noah’s age.

“I have a birthday party today,” Noah said over breakfast.

“Yes, your mom told me. Do you know where your friend lives?”

Noah shook his head since his mouth was full of cereal. That was another thing he liked about Chief Dodds. He let him eat the chocolate rice cereal that turned the milk chocolate. His mom mixed it with plain rice cereal and it didn’t taste as good that way and didn’t change the milk.

“It’s not at Andrew’s house. It’s at a trampoline park,” the boy provided once he had swallowed.

“A what?”

“A trampoline park,” Noah repeated, hopping down from his stool at the bar and going to the refrigerator where the invitation was held on by a magnet of the Statue of Liberty. He returned and handed it to the man. “Here.”

Dodds looked at the postcard from an indoor amusement center called Fly High. It had photos of children and adults bouncing on trampolines. He raised his bushy eyebrows and flipped it over to see more photos and the party information.

“Not quite Chuck E. Cheese,” he muttered.

“Who’s Chucky Cheese?” asked Noah.

Bill laughed. 

“It’s not a person. It was a place my boys used to go to birthday parties. Pizza, video games, a big dancing mouse. Or maybe he was a rat.”

“I think the trampolines will be better. Andrew said you can play dodgeball and basketball.”

Olivia had just left the conference hall when her phone rang. It had been a long day, but her presentation went well, and the other women were well spoken and had given interesting talks. She had the nearly three hour drive ahead of her but she planned on changing her clothes to make it more comfortable at least. The caller ID said Chief Dodds.

“How did you know I’m just getting ready to head home?” she asked with a smile in her voice. “Did you and Noah have a good day together?”

But the answering reply was not the baritone she expected.

“Mommy, Chief Bill got hurt!”

“Noah? What happened? Are you alright? Where’s Bill?”

“I’m okay. We’re at the trampoline place. Some of the dad’s were playing dodgeball and Chief Bill decided to play and when he jumped out of the way of a ball, his leg went off the trampoline and he thinks his ankle is broken.”

As Noah talked, Olivia had made her way to her car and was pulling out of the parking lot, heading toward the highway as she put the car on speakerphone.

“Can I talk to Bill, please?”

“Just a minute, the ambulance people are looking at his ankle.”

Olivia pressed the pedal and accelerated to well over the speed limit, grateful traffic was light between holidays. She exhaled audibly when Dodds’ voice filled the car.

“Olivia. Slow down, I’m fine.”

She smiled that he knew she would be driving faster than she should, and let up on the gas slightly.

“Noah said your ankle is broken.”

“I think it might be. I should have known better. Man my age playing dodgeball on a trampoline,” he told her and Olivia thought she heard something in his voice, but put it down to him being in pain.

In the background she heard a woman’s voice say, “Sir, we need to load you into the ambulance now.”

“Is Noah riding with you?” she asked.

“No, Andrew’s dad said he would take him. I’ve given him Rollins’ number and he said he’d call her and ask her to meet him at the hospital.”

“Okay. I’ll touch base with her and meet you there,” she told him.

“I’ll be home by the time you get here,” Bill protested.

“The ER on a holiday week? Doubtful,” she scoffed. “But I’ll talk to Amanda. Tell Noah I’m on my way.”

“Okay. Please drive safely,” he urged.

“I will, Bill. I -- “ Olivia paused. “I will,” she repeated and ended the call. 

She gripped the steering wheel tightly and took a cleansing breath. She’d been on the verge of telling Bill she loved him. But she didn’t want the first time to be over the phone. 

A broken ankle wasn’t a life threatening injury, but Olivia needed to be there to see for herself that Bill was all right and she was never so glad to see the cityscape; lit up against the dark December sky. She’d been in contact with Amanda throughout her drive and learned that the break required the placement of a pin, and the deputy chief had been taken into surgery. She hoped he was out as she pulled up at the hospital, tossing her POLICE plaque onto the dash and climbing out of the car. The aide at the information desk directed her to the orthopedic floor where she found Amanda and Noah in a waiting area.

“Mommy!” Noah cried when he saw her exit the elevator, and ran to her. 

She crouched down to hug him and heard him mumble something into her shoulder. Holding him away from her, Olivia asked,

“What did you say, Noah?”

“I said I’m sorry Chief Bill got hurt. It’s my fault.”

Pushing his curls away from his face, she kissed his forehead.

“It is definitely not your fault, honey. It was an accident.”

“But he played dodgeball with the other dads because of me,” Noah insisted. “Because they thought he was my grandpa.”

Olivia didn’t know what to say. Bill was older than she was, sure, but she never thought he could be mistaken for Noah’s grandfather. She realized, though, this was the first time any of his classmates or their parents had seen him. She wondered how he had introduced himself.

“Captain Benson?” 

She stood up as a nurse approached.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Dodds is out of recovery and was asking if you were here. He’s in room 518.”

“Thank you. I’ll be right there,” Olivia said. Then she turned to Amanda.

“Could you watch Noah a little longer?”

“Of course. But how about if I take him home with me? Sonny is there with the girls. I can keep him overnight if you want to stay with Dodds.”

Olivia hesitated. Amanda wasn’t sure how serious her Captain and the Deputy Chief were, but she knew she had been happier since they started to see each other. She smiled more and worked less. The detective stepped closer and lowered her voice.

“Liv, it’s okay. I heard what Noah said. Don’t let a couple of Millennial hipster dads who think joggers are acceptable to wear outside the house make you question what you and Dodds have. He’s good for you.”

Then she raised her voice to a normal level and addressed Noah.

“C’mon, Noah, Jesse will be excited to show you what she got from Santa.”

After she kissed Noah goodbye and watched the elevator doors close, Olivia went in search of the ladies room before she found Bill’s. She was still wearing the suit she’d put on before dawn that day, but she freshened up best she could. When she pushed open the door of room 518, she stopped and looked at the man in the bed for a moment. His eyes were closed, hands resting on his chest as it rose and fell with his breathing. Did he look old enough to be Noah’s grandfather? No more than she looked old enough to be her son’s grandmother, she thought. 

“Are you going to just stand there staring at me?”

Bill opened his blue eyes and smiled at her, the lines around his eyes crinkling familiarly. He held out the hand that didn’t have an IV attached to it and she crossed the room to grasp it and bend over him to place a kiss on his lips. Then she combed his hair back from his forehead with her fingers and returned his smile.

“How do you feel?”

“Not bad considering I fell off a trampoline trying to act half my age and have two pins in my ankle to show for it.”

“Two pins? The break was that bad?”

“No, I broke the same one chasing a perp when I was in uniform. Foot went through a rusted grate. So it was already weak and broke in the same spot. Perils of getting old.”

Olivia sat down in the chair beside the bed, still holding his hand.

“You’re not old, Bill.”

He didn’t reply but shifted restlessly and winced as the movement jostled his injured ankle. 

“Noah told me what happened,” she told him.

“They thought I was his grandfather, Olivia. I _am_ old enough to be his grandfather.”

“And I’m old enough to be his grandmother. But I’m not. I’m his mother, and you’re — “ 

“What am I?” he interrupted.

When the two of them realized their attraction was mutual, Olivia had expressed concern about her track record with having relationships with coworkers. None of them had been successful. Bill told her it was because she had been with a boy and an old man. He had gone on to prove his statement correct. He had courted and romanced her, taken care of her without interfering with her independence, helped her parent Noah and taught her a few things at the same time. In short, he had won her heart.

Olivia met his eyes and said,

“You’re the man I love. I love you, Bill Dodds.”

To his embarrassment, Bill felt his eyes fill with tears. He tried to blink them away.

“After effect of the anesthesia,” he said gruffly.

“Sure,” Olivia agreed, with a smile. She reached over and brushed away the moisture that escaped. “But usually when someone tells you they love you, you say it back.”

Bill pulled his hand from hers and cupped her face with his palm. 

“Olivia, to quote the infamous Jerry Maguire, you had me at hello,” he told her. “You are the strongest, smartest, fiercest, most loving and most beautiful woman I have ever known. And yes, I love you. But next time, you get to play dodgeball on the trampoline.”


End file.
